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Major Monday – Library and Information Science

This week’s Major Monday post is done with the help of Ms. Vogler, who is Lowell Catholic’s Librarian/Information Technologist.

1. What did you major in in college? Where did you go to college?

During my undergraduate studies I majored in English at Rhode Island College in Providence, RI. After that, I went to Simmons College in Boston, MA to get my Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science

Simmons College

2. Is this major your original major? If not, what was your original major? why did you decide to change?

English wasn’t technically my original major. I started out my college career majoring in Secondary Education for English. I got all the way to the last semester before my student teaching and realized that my heart wasn’t in it. I enjoyed working with students and talking about books but other parts of teaching like grading papers and writing tests just didn’t excite me the way I thought your career should. I figured if this was what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life, I better enjoy everything that came along with it.

3. What made you choose this major?

I chose to focus on English so that I would have a solid background to move on to what I really wanted to do, which was study Library and Information Science. I decided on Library and Information Science for a handful of reasons. While majoring in English in undergrad, I came to love the research process but I felt like learning how to do that was such a huge challenge. I knew that working in a library I would be able to help make the research process easier for people. Mostly though, I have always just loved libraries. I love reading and being around so many books and I love that libraries allow people to find the answers to just about any question they might have whether it be online or in a book. It’s all about access to information.

4. What classes/topics did you enjoy studying the most while in college?

Of course I loved all of my English classes in undergrad but what really surprised me in graduate school was how much I got into my technology courses. Learning how to build web pages and manage databases was something completely new to me coming from an English background but I loved the learning process. I thought that my technology classes were going to be something I “had” to do but they became the highlight of my schedule and I truly looked forward to each new topic we covered.Technology is a huge part of the 21st century library and I find myself grateful every single day for the lessons I learned in my coursework.

5. What advice do you have for students looking to study your major?

I would tell students interested in studying Library and Information Science that it is worth it! When I told people that I wanted to be a librarian a lot of them kind of laughed and told me how hard it would be to find a job. I’m so glad that I didn’t listen to them because I actually have a job that I enjoy just about every aspect of. If you like helping people answer questions, research, reading, recommending books and working with technology then Librarianship really is a rewarding career.

Thank you, Ms. Vogler!

For additional information on Library and Information Science, click here!